Why weren't the Elements of Harmony in a museum after a thousand years? What if they HAD been?
Twilight Sparkle, becoming anxious at the upcoming Summer Sun Celebration, which she believes marks the return of Nightmare Moon, beseeches Princess Celestia to do something about it.
Celestia, however, has another, more important task for her; making sure that the Summer Sun Celebration goes off without a hitch. Every year, a different town is chosen to receive the honor of hosting the grand festival.
And the lucky city chosen this year, for this fateful holiday, is none other than the city of Manehattan...
You know that I value your diligence and that I trust you completely, but you simply must stop reading those dusty old books!
My dear Twilight, there is more to a young pony's life than studying, so I'm sending you to supervise the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration in this year's location: Manehattan. And I have an even more essential task for you to complete...
"...make some friends!"
Twilight groaned as Spike finished reading the letter for the tenth time. When she wrote about the coming threat of Nightmare Moon, she had expected Princess Celestia to respond quickly and decisively to put a halt to the wicked mare's escape before it could begin.
Instead, she had put her in charge of a festival! The Summer Sun Celebration! There was no time for festivals or parties or music or... whatever else Celestia was expecting of her! Disaster was looming on the horizon, and the key to stopping it was in Canterlot, with the royal library and the Princess. What could she possibly do now?
"Look on the bright side, Twilight," Spike said. "The Princess arranged for you to stay in a library. Doesn't that make you happy?"
There was a moment's contemplation before Twilight perked up. "Yes," she replied, "yes it does. And do you wanna know why?" She now stood over the baby dragon, grinning broadly. "Because I'm right! I'll check on the preparations as fast as I can, then get to the library to find some proof of Nightmare Moon's return!"
Ahead of them lay the sprawling metropolis of Manehattan. They passed statues perched on each tier of the neoclassical architecture, at heights that would have been far above the tallest rooftop in many towns in Equestria, but Twilight paid them no heed. Nor did she take note of the impressive rivers surrounding the borough, or the patch of lush and beautiful green amid the urban sprawl. All she could think of was her self-appointed task, and oh, how seriously she took that task.
"Then... when will you make friends like the Princess said?" Spike protested quietly.
"She SAID to check on preparations," Twilight retorted, conveniently forgetting the final instruction in the letter and the emphasis that had been placed on it. "I am her student, and I'll do my royal duty, but the fate of Equestria does NOT rest on me making friends."
As she finished speaking, the pegasus guards pulling the flying chariot touched down on Mane Street. "Thank you, sirs," Twilight offered politely before trotting off down the busy Manehattan streets.
She hadn't gone ten feet before she bumped into another pony. "Oh, please excuse me," Twilight said, backing away a bit to see that she had collided with a blue unicorn mare. The mare was now staring at her with an expression of mild disdain. "I'm in a bit of a hurry, so—"
Spike cleared his throat beside her. "Twilight," he said, "she's not going anywhere. You could at least try."
Twilight sighed dramatically, then nodded. "Alright then. My name is Twilight Sparkle. What's yours?"
But the other pony didn't answer. Instead, with a bright flash of her horn and a puff of smoke, she disappeared. That semi-scowl never left her lips.
For a moment, neither Twilight nor Spike moved.
"Well, I tried," Twilight declared, resuming her march.
Falling into step behind her, Spike groaned. "Whoever that useless snob was," he muttered under the sound of the crowd, "remind me to chew on her ankle if we ever see her again." He raised his voice a bit to ask, "Well, what about seeing the sights? You just got here, you've gotta have a look around."
"Spike," Twilight said in a warning tone, "there'll be plenty of time for sightseeing after we save the world."
Spike ran a claw over his temple. "Fine," he said with a bit of a sigh in his voice. "Let's just get this over with."
"So, where to first?"
Spike scanned the list of preparations. The first item was food. It looked like a large catering company had been contracted to handle the event. "We need to check in with Orange Catering," he read aloud, pointing off down the street, and they set off. Spike read off the directions line by line, steering Twilight toward their destination.
Every now and then, Spike would become distracted by a storefront, or a food vendor, or some other display of the unique Neigh York culture. Without fail, Twilight reminded him of their present task with a quick telekinetic tug.
Spike grumbled as she dragged him away from yet another newspaper stand, where he had become entranced by the sound of strings flowing from a radio set upon the counter. The stallion manning the stand watched with an amused chuckle, then went back to perusing his own wares.
"I really liked that song," Spike complained.
~#~#~#~
Orange Catering was located in the back of the substantially larger building that housed the Orange Hotel. Twilight and Spike spent a minute surveying it from outside. One thing's for certain, she thought, in Manehattan they like things tall. The towers of Canterlot Castle were the tallest buildings she had ever seen before, and they were utilitarian, only barely rising above the castle itself, perhaps ten stories at the most.
The hotel in front of Twilight was at least thirty stories high, and even at that size, dwarfed by more buildings around it. In the distance, spires pierced the lowest clouds and kept rising. This city made Canterlot look like an underground bunker.
At her side, Spike cleared his throat. "Well? Are we gonna go in or what?"
Twilight started a bit, having almost been distracted from her task for a minute. "Of course," she said, resuming her businesslike affectation and striding forward.
The interior of the hotel was certainly... lavish. From the plush red carpet that her hooves sank easily into to the golden arches of the entryway, clearly no expense had been spared in the decoration of this place. In fact, the more she looked around at the gold-studded leather upholstery, the more the word "gaudy" came to mind, and she found herself hoping that the same caterer wouldn't be responsible for decorations for the Celebration.
Spike couldn't contain a low whistle of admiration at the luxurious decorations of the lobby... and Twilight somewhat suspected the gem-encrusted chandelier was a large part of that. "Spike, no eating the furniture," she cautioned him. "We're here on a mission, so let's stick to that, okay?"
Spike nodded absently, still staring. With a roll of her eyes, Twilight proceeded into the kitchen. "Hello?" she called. "I'm here to speak with the mMMPH!" She found herself cut off by a large spoon of some kind of sweet cream that had been shoved into her mouth by a pony in chef's attire. He was now studying her face for a reaction, so to appease him she gave an awkward smile. After a moment, he looked satisfied and went back to his work.
"Well, good morning to you," came a voice from behind her. Twilight turned to see a pale orange earth mare, about ten years older than herself, with an elegantly styled orange mane and tail. Her blue eyes shone with a matronly light, and her cutie mark, three orange slices, left little doubt who this might be.
Twilight cleared her throat. "I'm Twilight Sparkle. I was sent by Celestia to confirm the menu for the Summer Sun Celebration," she explained.
"Yes, I suspected as much," the older mare said with a light chuckle. "I am Orange Sherbet. I run the catering, as well as the hotel, along with my husband, Mosely Orange." As she spoke, Twilight found more spoons thrust at her from various directions, and tried to appraise them as well as she could while keeping her attention on the mare.
With a polite nod, Twilight tried to make her way toward the door. "Well, I was just sent to check on the food, and I can see that everything's good," she said, "so I think I'll just be on my way."
Sherbet's eyes widened with some inexplicable terror at the thought. "Oh, heavens, no, child!" she cried. "I have to insist! If Celestia sent you, you mustn't leave until you've had the final word on everything!"
Twilight swallowed a lump in her throat, which may have been fear, or may have been the cheesecake that had just been pressed into her maw. "E-everything?" she echoed, looking around at the full kitchen, which was scrambling to have a feast prepared for the Celebration.
The hope of escaping and returning to her work vanished in an instant.
"Oh, no, Madam Sherbet," Twilight said, shaking her head. "I'm afraid I simply couldn't—"
"Now, now," Sherbet interrupted, placing a hoof gently upon Twilight's lips to silence her. "You may call me 'Auntie'. Everypony does." Apparently, making sure to establish this nickname with its implications of familial affection was a high enough priority to come before Twilight's refusal. "And I'm afraid we really can't do without you. This is, after all, a feast for the Princess and for all of Manehattan. We mustn't let one poorly chosen dish or one undercooked ingredient escape our notice! How could we ever forgive ourselves if we didn't provide the best banquet possible?"
She paused for a moment there, seeming to consider what Twilight might be concerned about. "Of course," she continued, "I realize it must be dull for you, having to make sure everything is just so, so perhaps we could liven things up with some conversation. We could really get to know each other. After all, it's not often somepony of your standing is sent to us."
Twilight started to protest that she was just doing a job, but silenced herself. The more she attempted to get out of this, the more she realized she was acting like a petulant filly. "Auntie" was really eager to make sure she was doing things right, on top of being so aggressively polite. And besides, it was technically Twilight's job.
~#~#~#~
Spike nearly had to drag Twilight from the building; her mind was too focused on the feeling of her gut about to burst to properly move her legs. Orange Sherbet had at least been pleasant enough, keeping up a conversation as far as Twilight could manage to follow, but this was really hard to appreciate while buried under samples of every appetizer, entree, and dessert they could put together.
Plodding away from the hotel, Twilight wasn't even paying attention to where they were going or what they were doing. After a moment's contemplation, Spike took the opportunity to step over to a corner vendor's stand. Glancing surreptitiously back to make sure Twilight hadn't snapped out of it, he fished some bits out of a pouch.
The vendor seemed slightly taken aback when Spike hoisted himself onto the counter to get a look at the wares. "Uh... can I help you?" he asked.
"Yeah," said Spike, pointing to a figurine of a pegasus in flight, sporting an especially nice hat. "How much is that?" It struck him as a nice gift to help calm Twilight down later if she was still stuck in freakout mode when the Celebration came, and a decent souvenir otherwise.
"Ten bits," said the stallion, and the deal was easy; a Canterlot merchant might have charged twenty for the same. Spike shook the pony's hoof, which was a little awkward in their current positions, then took the figurine gladly and rejoined Twilight.
He pulled out the Celebration to-do list again and cleared his throat.
"They've got it under control," Twilight confirmed as she jolted back to awareness, taking a moment to realize that Orange Catering was well and truly behind them. "Where next?"
"We need to head to the Manehattan Weather Center to check on the weather team," Spike continued. When Twilight didn't respond he poked her in the side, causing her to groan and wobble as if about to fall over.
"Take it easy, Spike... I hope the walk is good for my digestion," she moaned.
~#~#~#~
The Weather Center, on the campus of the Manehattan University of Natural Sciences, was where the best weather ponies in Equestria were trained. The senior weather cadets handled most of the responsibility for large parts of the city; the instructors served as chief weather officers for the city as a whole.
The University was beautifully kept. Twilight was almost entranced by the stone walls, with carefully cultivated moss cascading down in exactly the right places and ivies climbing up to meet it. The coloring of it all was somehow emphasized by the muted light from the overcast sky. Flowering shrubs lined the front of each building, except for one. Twilight guessed, based on the topiary animals that stood outside instead, that it must be the zoology department.
Spike consulted the letter, looking for a map, but Twilight had already found the Weather Center. Knowing where to look, it was easy to spot. For training, the weather ponies needed a rooftop facility with a special storage area. Atop a nearby building, Twilight saw a bi-level platform, which was exactly the kind of setup necessary. The upper platform would be used for flight drills, and the lower one would keep materials safe and dry. She quickly found the sign identifying the building as the Weather Center and proceeded inside.
The interior was barren, uncut stone, which was no surprise to Twilight. It was the rooftop that really mattered. There was a very plain corridor stretching left and right from the entrance, and a set of stairs straight in front. Along the corridor were a few classrooms, and she could hear a professor lecturing his students on weather-related technology. The rest of the rooms were offices and storage. Twilight ascended the stairs, and found herself in an open-air bi-level structure oddly reminiscent of a cart storage unit.
Pegasi milled about aimlessly. Twilight's eye twitched as she observed the scene. These must be the weather ponies, but they seemed completely oblivious to the fact that they were getting further behind schedule.
"What are all you ponies doing?!" she demanded, stamping a hoof. "The Summer Sun Celebration is in less than twenty-four hours and not one pony is working on preparing the weather! Who is responsible for this delay? No, wait, don't answer that, you're all guilty!"
"Hey, shut up," said an irritable-looking stallion. "We've been running drills all week, and we're running on empty! I skipped breakfast just to be here today!"
"So did I!" added a mare nearby. "AND I had to miss dinner last night too in order to get enough sleep!"
"We sent Junior Cadet Blossomforth to get lunch a few hours ago," said another. "But it seems like she's stopped to smell the roses again."
Twilight looked up at the sky. There really wasn't time for this. She needed these pegasi in the air so she could get on her way. At this point, it occurred to her that there was only one way that was going to happen.
"Alright," she said with a sigh, "how about I go find her? Then you can eat and get started on clearing the sky, right?"
There was a general murmur of consensus, and without waiting for further confirmation, she descended the stairs again.
As she stepped onto the first floor, the sound of humming reached Twilight's ears. Sparing a glance to her right, she noticed a white pegasus mare with a mane she could only describe as watermelon-striped. The pegasus was busily hanging strings of flowers from the ceiling near the bend in the corridor. In fact, the walls, ceiling, and floor had been positively blanketed in flowers; the sheer volume was striking, and Twilight found herself approaching out of curiosity.
"Hello," she ventured, prompting the pegasus to whirl around. This, in turn, caused a few chains of flowers to fall, decorating the mare rather than their intended targets. "That's certainly a lot of flowers you have there."
"Oh, yes," said the pegasus with a small laugh. "I grew them all myself, actually. I love flowers..."
Twilight nodded. "I can see that. How long have you been down here?" From this angle, she was vaguely aware that beyond the bend, the rather long corridor had already been completely decorated, and a cart stood still bulging with more flowers.
"Oh, I just started. I was on my way to get some lunch, but I thought, you know... it's the Summer Sun Celebration, right? This place should look... sunnier! So I got some extra to spruce it up!"
It took several seconds for the actual meaning of that statement to dawn on Twilight. "Get lunch...? Wait, you aren't Junior Cadet Blossomforth, by any chance?"
The pegasus looked startled for a moment, then nodded. "Yes, I am. Who are you?"
"Twilight Sparkle, I'm here to check on the—that's not important, everypony on the the weather team is wondering where you are! You've been gone for hours!"
"What?!" Blossomforth looked at the clock, and her pupils shrank to pinpricks. "Oh no I've gotta go bye!" She grabbed her cart and rushed up the stairs, nearly knocking Twilight over in the process. Twilight righted herself, exchanged a glance with Spike, and followed the panicking pegasus back up the stairs.
On the roof once more, she saw Blossomforth scurrying to distribute flowers among the team. The stallion from before approached and raised a hoof, smiling as she passed him a particularly large bloom.
"Hey, thanks, Blossom," he said, before shoving it into his mouth. As the team finished devouring their meals, the stallion gave a whistle, which was echoed back throughout the group. With no further cues, they took flight.
~#~#~#~
Back on the street, Twilight couldn't help but be a little awed at how quickly the reinvigorated ponies were turning the situation around. She paused to watch the skies clear up. The pegasi pushed the clouds out over the ocean where they could be scattered to vapor without giving the city an unscheduled downpour.
"Alright, Spike," she said, once she was certain they were back on schedule, "what's next?"
"We need to stop at the Equestrian Museum of Supernatural History," he read. "Have to check on the decorations and make sure they're ready for the crowd, plus the Princess."
"Easy! We'll be done with this in no time!" With a grin, Twilight set off in the direction of the museum. Spike raised a claw to interject, glancing at a carrot dog vendor right next to them, but Twilight didn't seem to be paying attention and was moving at a pretty good pace, so he scurried to keep up with her, following her to the steps of the museum.
It was an impressively large building, though that seemed to be the norm in this city. Unlike many of the other buildings they passed, however, this one also presented them with an impressively large entryway. Stone arches and markers led to a large door designed to let a crowd pass all at once, flanked by smaller doors.
The museum was closed to the general public while it was being prepared for the Celebration. This was not a problem for them, since they weren't the general public. Twilight looked to Spike. "If you would be so kind?" Spike gave a nod of confirmation and rummaged through his pouches for the key.
~#~#~#~
Inside, the architecture was almost intimidating, dominated by marble arches and brass columns. There were no lightbulbs or candles in the entry hall, as light from open doors and high windows proved sufficient.
The thing that immediately caught their attention was a sepia-toned streak zipping around. After several moments, it stopped right in front of them, and Twilight realized that it was a bespectacled pegasus mare, hurriedly cleaning every surface in the museum. She had a tan coat, and a two-toned gray mane and tail. She also wore a bulky green sweater, and it wasn't until moments after observing this that Twilight noticed a chill in the building.
Spike backed out the door, not able to tolerate the temperature. "I'll just wait out here," he called. "Cold-blooded, you know how it is." He turned around and sat down, taking out the figurine from earlier to admire as he waited.
"Can I help you?" the pegasus asked, sounding a little tired. "I've got a lot of work to do before the Summer Sun Celebration, you know... getting ready to play host to Celestia herself..."
"Actually, that's why I'm here," Twilight explained, shivering slightly. "I was sent by—why is it so cold in here?"
"Thermostat's on the fritz. We'll have it fixed by tonight. Until then it's just gonna get colder. So you were sent...?"
The chill must have been slowing Twilight's thought processes, and it took her a second to respond to the mare. "R-right. Twilight Sparkle. Sent by Celestia. To supervise."
The pegasus rolled her eyes and gestured to herself. "Honey Do. Head curator. Don't need supervision."
"Th-that's g-great." Twilight nodded stiffly, trying to will her teeth to stop chattering. "I'm sup-p-posed to take a look around, anyway..."
Honey Do shrugged. "The main event's gonna be in the outdoor courtyard, which is straight thataway." She waved a hoof behind herself. "Have a look around, warm yourself up, and let me do my job."
Twilight nodded her thanks, and proceeded in the direction indicated. She didn't get halfway there, though, before spotting something out of the corner of her eye.
At her scream, Honey Do zipped to her location, and found her cowering on the ground, nose against the wall. Registering that, the pegasus looked to the other wall to see what the problem was.
"Heh, you too, huh?"
Twilight blinked in confusion as the pegasus picked her up, set her back on her feet and directed her attention to the remarkably lifelike representation of an incredibly large snake, a plaque beneath which read "Jormungandr (1/1,000,000,000 scale)".
"Man, that thing freaks me out all the time. I hate snakes." Honey chuckled. "If I'd known, I woulda warned you. Sorry about that."
Laughing nervously, Twilight shook her head. "No, it's fine. You didn't know. I should just—" Before she finished the thought, something more enticing caught her eye. "Is that what I think it is?" she asked, stepping toward it.
Seeing where Twilight's attention was drawn now, Honey beamed. "Sure is! The gen-you-wine authentic staff of Starswirl the Bearded! You would not believe how hard THAT was to get." She scratched her head. "Guess you're big on historical artifacts, huh? Then I've got to show you this!"
Honey Do put a hoof around Twilight's withers and steered her into a nearby room. Twilight winced. She didn't have time for a tour!
This room was filled with chalices and tomes and a lot of other things that were clearly very ancient, but Twilight didn't particularly care about any of that at the moment. She was more concerned with her search for an opportunity to escape. Now Honey was talking about each piece, gesturing animatedly. Twilight wasn't really paying attention to her words, but she did pick up on the fact that some of the gestures were violent, throwing punches and even mimicking archery. Suddenly, Twilight was even more nervous about continuing this.
"And this," Honey was saying, indicating an ancient-looking sun symbol, "was actually carried by Typhoon, the great explorer and granddaughter of three of the founders of Equestria, as a symbol of her devotion to Celestia, and was recently found in the possession of..."
Twilight spotted, in the far corner of the room, an ornate suit of armor, and an idea began to take shape in her head. Noticing that the curator had gone on to talking about a few unremarkable lumps of rock, Twilight cast a quick spell, giving the armor a push. It wobbled a few times, then hit the ground with a loud crash.
Honey Do's head whipped around, her sentence cut off in the middle. Upon seeing the beautiful display in a heap on the floor, she gasped and rushed over to it. "Oh, please don't be damaged," she muttered under her breath, picking up each piece of the set and examining it closely. Preoccupied with that, she didn't notice Twilight sneaking out the door.
~#~#~#~
"Okay, last stop," Spike said as elevator gate opened. "Music. One of Celestia's favorite musicians lives here, and she's been tasked with hoof-picking the rest of the band." The sound of a quartet playing floated down the corridor in front of them, and Twilight was followed them to a door at the end of the hall. She raised a hoof and knocked loudly.
Somepony played a sour note, and the whole song abruptly stopped. "One moment, please," came a voice from the other side. Several other voices were audible, but indistinct. The door swung open to reveal a gray earth mare. She stood aside and gave a smile and a bow, beckoning for them to enter.
Twilight stepped into a comfortable-looking sitting room. The far wall was a single window overlooking the streets far below. "I take it you're Octavia?" Twilight guessed, eyes on the mare.
The other pony nodded, but said nothing.
"Alright then! I'm Twilight Sparkle. I've been sent to check on the music. It sounded nice, do you think you're ready?"
In answer, Octavia smiled and raised a bow held in the crook of her hoof toward a door on the right, through which three other musicians were visible. For their part, they seemed slightly irritated that Twilight was questioning their preparedness, but took the gesture as a cue to resume playing. Octavia herself picked her instrument, a massive cello, back up, set bow to strings, and a beautiful sound flowed forth.
Twilight enjoyed their brief demonstration, but Spike seemed almost weak-kneed by the time Octavia removed her bow from her instrument with a flourish and took a bow.
"Well, that is truly amazing," Twilight said, standing up to leave and prodding Spike to bring him back to reality. "That's all I needed to hear, so it's time we get back to—"
Spike's stomach growled, and Twilight shot him a look. "What?" he asked. "I haven't eaten since we got here..."
Octavia giggled, sounding both politely formal and genuinely mirthful. "It is natural. 'The young are in a condition like permanent intoxication, because youth is sweet and they are growing.' Wait one moment," she said, slipping out of the room with movements so graceful Twilight was hardly aware of them.
Shortly thereafter, she returned with two plates on her back, a large slice of cake on one, and on the other a circle of rubies and sapphires. On her head, she bore two teacups. She set both plates in front of Spike with a smile, and passed a cup to Twilight, who stared into it for a moment before looking back at Octavia questioningly.
"I must provide for guests, mustn't I? It would be terrible to allow a poor baby dragon to go hungry," Octavia explained, and sipped her tea. "Corundum grows all over Equestria, so it often turns up as small-denomination currency, but I think this is a much better use for it."
Spike was once more dumbstruck, and Twilight caught an odd look in his eye as he picked up a gemstone carefully and bit into it. There was no telling what thought processes had begun in his mind. What she could tell, though, was that Spike wasn't about to hurry himself.
"Wow, look at the time," Twilight said, glancing out the window. "We really need to get going. Sorry to have interrupted! Keep up the good work!" She pulled Spike onto her back, causing him to drop a sapphire half, and trotted to the door.
"Oh, but wait," Octavia began, but they had already left.
~#~#~#~
"Finally! We've checked on everything, now we can get back to the library and do some research!" Twilight declared as she trotted down the street. "It's good to finally be alone, right, Spike?" Pause. "Spike...?"
"Huh? Oh!" Spike shook himself to attention. "Sorry, Twilight, I was listening to Octavia."
Twilight blinked, then shook her head. "Spike, we left Octavia's five minutes ago. You couldn't possibly hear her from her house."
Spike contemplated that for a moment. "You're right," he admitted. "I couldn't."
"Exactly, now stop being a little goofball and—"
"Because she's right behind us."
"Huh?"
As Spike stood up and waved behind them, Twilight glanced over her shoulder, and confirmed that Octavia was, indeed, following them, wearing a pair of saddlebags, trying to call out to them but inaudible over the bustle of the street. Turning her face forward again, Twilight ignored the mare and increased her pace, not at all wanting to stop for some trivial conversation.
"Hey! Twilight, slow down!" Spike protested, grabbing at her mane, either to keep his balance or to get her attention. "She wants to talk to us! Show some manners, would ya?"
Twilight winced at the pulling. She continued apace for a few seconds, but at Spike's insistence, she groaned and slowed down, though not without shooting him a glare. Soon the gray mare was keeping pace just behind them. She opened her mouth to speak.
"Hi, Octavia!" Spike interrupted, quite obliviously. "Sorry about Twi. Rude, right? I guess she's just in a hurry to get ready for tomorrow. I bet everypony in Neigh York will show up to hear your music. You must be excited about that, right?" He gave her a goofy grin.
Octavia blinked a bit, and nodded.
"And I bet it'll be the greatest performance of your life!" he added excitedly, before Octavia could comment. "You'll knock 'em dead! Your music will make the sunrise even brighter!"
With a slightly strained smile, she nodded again and drew in a breath to speak.
"I listened to records of your music all the time in Canterlot," Spike continued. "You're Celestia's favorite, you know, and it's easy to see why. I mean..."
Twilight sighed, shaking her head as she proceeded on, attempting to tune the rambling baby dragon out.
~#~#~#~
They were about a block from the library before Spike finally started to wrap it up.
"...so the Wonderbolts' flight plan got mixed up with the Fillydelphia Orchestra's score, and they were all going in circles for weeks," he finished with a chuckle.
As he seemed to contemplate telling another story, Octavia cleared her throat. "'Who listens once will listen twice.' You can tell me more later," she said. "I wanted to tell you that you dropped this." She reached into her saddlebag, and produced the figurine that Spike had purchased earlier. Surprised, he took it.
"Oh! Thank you," he said, staring at it for a moment before his face relaxed into a dopey smile. "It was nice of you to return it."
"Yes, very nice," Twilight broke in, "but as you can see, we're here, so I guess this is where we say goodbye." She pushed open the library door and looked back at Octavia. "So, goodbye, we'll see you at the Celebration, goodbye."
"Actually, I was—" Octavia began, but Twilight had already ducked inside and shut the door.
"Twilight..." Spike began, irritably, letting the word hang there.
"I'm sorry, Spike," Twilight said, as they began to walk through the vestibule, passing between intricately carved marble columns, "but I have to convince the Princess that Nightmare Moon is coming, and we're running out of time! I just need to be alone so I can study without a bunch of crazy ponies trying to make friends all the time!"
She walked through a doorway as she said this, and suddenly the room was illuminated in a variety of colors, accompanied by whistling and popping noises. This startled Twilight to attention, and she noticed that the room was packed with ponies, all staring straight at her. "Everypony," declared a booming voice, "please welcome our special guest!" Before she could let out so much as an "awp", Twilight found herself being lifted and carried to the center of the room, where a portable circular stage had been set up.
Twilight was placed near the center of the stage, and close by stood a blue mare, wearing a starry hat and cape. It took Twilight a few moments to recognize her as the same pony she had collided with upon arrival. Suddenly, without warning, the mare shifted into a bipedal stance, pointing one hoof at Twilight emphatically. "Greetings, Twilight Sparkle!" she said, in the same overdramatic tone. "I, the Great and Powerful Trixie, have arranged this special, one-of-a-kind performance all for you! I hope you are suitably impressed!"
"I'm impressed those fireworks didn't burn down the library," Twilight muttered.
"But of course!" The blue mare, apparently, automatically assumed this was a compliment. "Naturally, Trixie had the foresight to procure special fireworks for the occasion!" She turned to the audience now, gesturing to Twilight. "The Great and Powerful Trixie found this mare in the street, confused and alone!" She slipped a forehoof around Twilight's head in a slightly uncomfortable hug. "With no friends at all!"
Beside Twilight, Spike cleared his throat loudly, but Trixie didn't seem to hear him.
"She didn't even recognize the Great and Powerful Trixie! And so Trixie thought to herself, this cannot do! Trixie will perform for her, and invite as many ponies as she can fit into one building! Then, this mare will have friends, and moreover, she will finally know the Great and Powerful Trixie, and so she will no longer be miserable! Hear me, Manehattan? Let's have a round of applause for Trixie's newfound companion, Twilight Sparkle!"
Twilight could only stare flatly as the crowd erupted in applause.
As the roar died down, Trixie conjured a bouquet of flowers and offered them up to Twilight, who took them unthinkingly. Twilight's mind was on more important things and she barely even took note of the bouquet.
Until she noticed a giant bee in it.
Immediately, she yelled and dropped the bouquet, sliding away. The flowers disappeared in a puff of smoke as they hit the stage, leaving behind only a large, plastic bee. The audience gave a loud round of laughter, and Twilight's face reddened slightly.
"Don't be so nervous," Trixie said. "No harm done. Here, let's see if we can get a few volunteers, and then we'll put on a real show! I think," she mused with a sly look, "four should do it."
Trixie scanned the crowd, and picked out four excited ponies. As they were ushered onto the stage, Twilight wasn't even surprised to notice that they were Orange Sherbet, Blossomforth, Honey Do and Octavia. Why should that, or anything, surprise her now?
"Watch in awe!" Trixie proclaimed, as a curtain sprang up from the stage, surrounding the six ponies. "Can YOU spot which of these ponies is the REAL Twilight Sparkle?" There was a bright glow within the curtain, and then it retracted, leaving five Twilight Sparkles, and Trixie standing at the end of the line.
Spike approached the Twilights, looking from one to another. He smelled one, poked at another–both gave him disapproving looks. He scratched his head, then turned to Trixie with an exasperated shrug... and suddenly, his half-chewed meal from minutes ago reasserted itself in a bout of indigestion, causing Spike to let out a loud, fiery belch.
The magical flames dispelled Trixie's magic, revealing a slightly scorched Twilight Sparke where Trixie had just stood. Spike gasped, and the audience broke into laughter once more.
"'With eager feeding food doth choke the feeder,'" remarked one of the other Twilights, approaching Spike with a worried look on her face. "Are you alright?"
Trixie, having been the Twilight in the middle, dismissed her spell, and they all reverted to their normal appearance. She seemed to be suppressing her laughter, with small difficulty, if only because she was trying to speak. "So, how about it? What did you think of that trick?" she asked.
By way of response, Twilight turned and stomped off the stage.
~#~#~#~
The show continued without Twilight, to her annoyance. In a bed nestled between three bookshelves near the back of the room that had been prepared for her, she pressed a pillow over her ears to try and block out the sounds of explosions and cheering, but the effort was failing. Annoyed, she sat up and looked at the clock.
Spike entered the room with a slight stumble. "Hey Twilight!" he called. "Trixie's just conjured a giant hamster ball and we're all taking turns riding in it! Want a go?"
Twilight noticed that at some point he had gotten Trixie's hat.
"No!" she hissed. "All the ponies in this town are crazy! Do you know what time it is?"
Spike seemed to completely disregard the question. "It's the eve of the Summer Sun Celebration," he reminded her. "Everypony has to stay up, or they'll miss the Princess raise the sun! You really should lighten up, Twilight. It's a party!" So saying, he pivoted on one heel and returned to the scene. Behind him, Twilight did as much of a mocking imitation of his words as she could manage before covering her head once more.
"Ugh," she scoffed, "here I thought I'd have time to learn about the Elements of Harmony but, silly me, all this ridiculous friend-making has kept me from it!" Glancing up, she noticed the moon outside the high window, and climbed a ladder onto the bookcase behind her bed to see it better. She needn't have, however, because in her mind's eye, she could see nothing but the moon, and the sinister shadow of the dark mare. "'Legend has it that on the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape, and she will bring about everlasting night,'" she repeated to herself, and noticed with some terror that the moon seemed wreathed by especially bright stars. "I hope the Princess was right... I hope it really is just an old pony tale..."
The moon was definitely beginning to set. She tore her eyes from the moon as Spike returned.
"C'mon, Twilight, it's time to watch the sun rise!" he said, beckoning for her to follow him. With one last glance over her shoulder, she descended the ladder and exited the library, her knees shaking as she made her way back to the museum.
~#~#~#~
Twilight trotted into the stunningly decorated courtyard nervously. The sight of the banners hanging from pillars and sparkling golden emblems eased her mind, but only slightly. She took a place at the front of the forming crowd, and was quickly joined by Blossomforth and Trixie.
"Hey," Blossomforth said, beaming ear to ear. "You ready for this? I've been looking forward to it all year. I bet the sunshine will be extra-nice this year!"
"Uh, yeah, right," Twilight said distractedly.
Trixie gently nudged Twilight with an elbow. "Don't be such a wet blanket," she said. "This is an event ponies will be talking about for weeks, so just take it all in!"
Twilight spared Trixie a brief, annoyed look before returning her attention to the stage at the end of the courtyard, where Honey Do had alighted.
"Welcome, everypony," Honey greeted the crowd. "This year marks the first time in this museum's one-hundred-fifty year history that we've been selected to host the Summer Sun Celebration. I don't think I have to tell you what an honor it is!"
The crowd gave a small cheer by way of confirmation, quickly quieting down.
"So to start us off right, Mayor Tux is here to give the traditional speech," she continued, moving aside and giving a small flourish in the direction of a brown stallion wearing a formal collar and glasses.
"Fillies and gentlecolts," he began, stepping onto the center of the stage, "as Mayor of Neigh York, it is my great pleasure to announce the beginning of the Summer Sun Celebration!"
The crowd cheered a little louder.
"In just a few moments, our town will witness the magic of the sunrise, and celebrate this, the longest day of the year!"
Twilight cast a glance at the moon, and bit her lip as the face of the Mare in the Moon seemed to vanish before her eyes.
"And now, it is my great honor to introduce to you the ruler of our land, the very pony who gives us the sun and the moon each and every day, the good, the wise, the bringer of harmony to all of Equestria..."
Beside the stage, Octavia placed her bow to the strings, ready to play.
"Princess Celestia!" Mayor Tux turned and raised a hoof to a balcony above him, the music starting as the curtains pulled back...
...and promptly fading out. Nopony was there.
It took Twilight a moment to register the noise beside her. She looked to her right to see Trixie stamping her hooves in applause. At Twilight's stare, the blue mare halted. "Well," Trixie said, "it is kind of ingenious, isn't it? Building suspense like this..."
Twilight shook her head and returned her attention to the balcony, wincing as she realized a black mist was coalescing upon it. "Oh no," she whispered, "Nightmare Moon!"
The mist coalesced into a coherent figure, one Twilight had only seen in a book: A black mare, the size of Celestia herself, with massive wings and a long, wicked horn. She wore a helmet that fit the shape of her head perfectly. Above it, her mane flowed free, not hair, but a trail of darkness, peppered with pinpricks of starlight.
"Oh, my beloved subjects," the mare said, slowly and calmly. "It's been so long since I saw your precious, little sun-loving faces."
"Halt, fiend!" Trixie cried triumphantly, disappearing from where she stood with a puff of smoke and reappearing on the stage with another. She grinned wildly as she pointed a dramatic hoof at the dark being above her. "Tell us where our princess is, or Trixie, the glorious defender of the realm, will—"
Trixie's declaration was cut off as Orange Sherbet grabbed her off the stage and shoved her under a dessert tray. "It's not a show," Sherbet whispered hastily, then turned around again, trying to look like nothing was wrong.
The mare of darkness, however, looked amused. "Why?" she asked. "Am I not royal enough for you? Don't you know who I am?" Not a single pony dared to reply, and their silence seemed to offend her. "Does my crown no longer count after a thousand years? Did you not recall the legend?" She reached out toward the orchestra, idly toying with their instruments with her odd, animate mane, then abruptly became serious, scrutinizing Honey Do and the Mayor. "Did you not see the signs?"
"I did!" cried Twilight, suddenly forceful. This was the moment she had been trying to warn the Princess about, and that emboldened her. She paid no heed to the fact that for a brief moment, every eye was on her. "And I know who you are. You're the Mare in the Moon–Nightmare Moon!"
Nightmare Moon seemed almost as shocked as any of the other ponies to hear Twilight speak, but quickly recovered. "Well well well," she said, amused once more, "somepony who remembers me. Then you also know why I'm here."
"You're here to... to..." Twilight stammered, looking around at all the helpless ponies, the gravity of the situation now truly beginning to sink in more than ever. Realizing the hopelessness of her position, she swallowed a lump in her throat.
Nightmare Moon chuckled before speaking again, this time more slowly than before, deliberately, emphasizing the idle menace of each word. "Remember this day, little ponies, for it was your last," she declared. "From this moment forward, the night will last forever!"
Her vicious laughter filled Twilight with an overwhelming sense of despair.
Twilight stood paralyzed with fear, the true direness of the situation having just set in upon her. She was vaguely aware of Honey Do creeping off the stage and toward the door, and nearby, Blossomforth standing protectively in front of a group of cowering foals.
"Halt!" Mayor Tux cried out, pointing a hoof at the villain, as the combined forces of the Royal Guard and the Neigh York Police Department converged on her. "You will tell us where our Princess is, now!"
"Stand back, you foals!" In an instant, Nightmare Moon conjured a storm that blew away the guards and pinned down the police.
At that moment, Honey Do returned, swooping toward the stage with a sun-shaped symbol clenched between her teeth. Whatever she was expecting the object to do, though, it never got a chance to do it. Nightmare Moon swatted the curator aside easily, then, as suddenly as she arrived, she had become a dark mist once more and swarmed away.
Octavia turned toward Twilight, looking like she might comment. She stopped herself, however, when she realized Twilight wasn't there anymore.
~#~#~#~
"Uh... we gotta stop Nightmare...!" Spike declared, raising a claw in the direction of the door, before he toppled over, the day's exhaustion catching up with him.
Twilight shook her head as she set him on a couch and draped a blanket over him. "You've been up all night, Spike," she said gently. "You are a baby dragon, after all." Now she turned to the nearest bookshelf. "Elements, elements, elements... how can we stop Nightmare Moon without the Elements of Harmony?"
"You!"
Twilight jumped nearly a foot at the voice behind her. When she turned around, she found an angry blue unicorn bearing down on her.
"New in Manehattan? On the day Nightmare Moon takes over? And you knew she was coming? What kind of foals did you think we were?!" Trixie spat.
Twilight reeled back, a little too stunned to catch the implication Trixie was making. "I don't under—"
Somepony standing in the doorway cleared her throat politely. Twilight and Trixie both turned to look. Octavia offered a smile as she knocked on the doorframe, trotting inside. Blossomforth and Orange Sherbet followed, supporting between them a recovering Honey Do.
"Twilight, please, do go on," Sherbet said, nodding to the unicorn. "If you know how we can solve this... share it with us."
Twilight looked around the group, then bowed her head before answering. "I read all about the prediction of Nightmare Moon," she explained. "Some mysterious objects called the Elements of Harmony are the only things that can stop her, but I don't know what they are, where to find them—I don't even know what they do!"
As if the words triggered something, Honey Do suddenly perked up and darted to a bookshelf, scanning it quickly and selecting one particular tome. "Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide," she declared, lifting herself out of the way as Twilight rushed to see.
"How did you find that?!" Twilight asked, pulling it hastily from the shelf and opening it.
"Studied it. For months. I could find that one blindfolded," Honey replied. "Part of the prep work, you know. I'd skip it if I could, but then..."
Twilight barely heard her, focusing on the book.
"There are six Elements of Harmony, but only five are known: Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Honesty and Loyalty. The sixth is a complete mystery. It is said, the last known location of the five elements was in the ancient castle of the royal pony sisters. It is located in what is now... the Everfree Forest?!" She looked up, eyes wide. "But that's halfway across Equestria! We'll never make it, not with—"
"Whoa! Take it easy!" Honey said, placing a hoof on Twilight's shoulder. "We don't need to go there!"
The look Twilight gave her was the look one might give a three-headed ettin with a monocle, tophat and gentlemanly mustache.
"Don't need to...? Weren't you listening?! The Elements are the only thing that can defeat Nightmare Moon! There! Is! Nothing! Else!"
Honey held up her forehooves in a defensive gesture, fluttering away slightly. "No, listen," she said. "We don't need to go there because the Elements aren't in the Everfree Forest." There was a pregnant pause at that, during which the assembled ponies almost thought they heard the gears in Twilight's head grinding to a halt.
"But how would you know that?" she asked quietly.
"Because for the last six months they've been in..."
~#~#~#~
"The Equestrian Museum of Supernatural History!"
Twilight gaped at the building. They had been right there, the whole time? She could have just asked for them! Her hoof met her face for a moment, but then she brightened. Easy! Just walk in and take the Elements! Use them against Nightmare Moon! Then this whole ordeal would be over!
"Okay then, Madam Curator," she said, starting toward the door, "show me the way to the Elements, and..."
She was cut off by a low rumbling sound. Quickly, she became aware that the ground under her hooves was vibrating... and so was the museum. With a deafening roar, the building began to sink, inch by inch, into the earth.
"My museum!" Honey Do wailed, watching in horror as the first floor was slowly, completely submerged beneath street level. Then, to seal the deal, everything above simply collapsed, creating a mountain of rubble where the museum had stood.
The ponies stared on in disbelief. Twilight and Honey both gaped at the loss of their only hope of bringing back the sun, plus a thousand years of supernatural history. Blossomforth averted her eyes as Octavia patted Honey Do with a gentle, comforting hoof. Auntie scanned the wreckage, reaching out with her hoof as if to feel around for something, but not leaving her spot, and Trixie seemed to be about to speak, but repeatedly faltered and said nothing.
"...is there still a way in?" Twilight asked at length, approaching the ruins cautiously, looking for any gaps in the debris. "A window or... a door!" She spotted a metal door surrounded by a column of concrete poking out of the detritus, rushed over to it, and gave it a pull...
Nothing. It was the remnant of a fire escape, the metal grating that used to connect it to the ground now stripped away and lying useless; the door automatically locked from the inside for security purposes. Twilight gave a strangled cry and beat her head against the metal. "Why? Why did it have to be locked?! Now we don't have any way to get in!"
"That's not entirely true," said Auntie.
Twilight turned slowly, hardly daring to hope.
"Please, take a look over there," said the earth pony, gesturing beyond the field of destruction. Obligingly, Twilight turned her head in the indicated direction, and there, she saw something wonderful. Green rails surrounded what appeared to be a great hole in the road, and from this angle, she could barely make out the outline of stairs leading down.
It was a subway entrance. "From the look of it," said Auntie, "the building sinking should have put its back door in the subway station..."
"Perfect!" Twilight yelled, rushing down the stairs without a moment of hesitation. All five of the others exchanged a glance, then hurried after her.
Twilight was only familiar with subway stations from descriptions in her books. The lights flickering on as they entered, the only ones who would tonight, startled her, but not enough to stop her. The slate tile floor beneath her hardly registered, nor the faint lingering smell of hay fries. Even the fossils embedded in the wall and the beautiful mosaics, which normally would have sparked her curiosity, didn't slow her down.
What did get her attention was the sound of screeching brakes, and she came to a complete stop as a subway train barreled past, suddenly wrenching itself off the tracks, twisting and crashing with a massive explosion.
When the smoke cleared, Twilight was once again at a loss. The wreckage stood from floor to ceiling, completely blocking their way into the museum. There were gaps, yes, but they were twisted, narrow, jagged, and had flames pouring from them.
"Was anypony on board?" Blossomforth asked, alarmed.
"No, it was totally empty," Trixie replied. "Trixie didn't even see an operator."
"No..." Twilight groaned. "We were so close! The Elements are right there! Tell me there's another way," she said, turning to the others. "Tell me there's something we can do to get rid of this!"
Auntie shifted uncomfortably. "Er... there's a lever that will trigger an emergency system designed to clear large blockages from the tracks, yes," she said, "but it's... on the other side. And nopony could get through this..."
A moment of silence passed before Honey Do stepped forward. "I could," she stated calmly.
"You?" Twilight looked at her skeptically. "How? Would you even fit...?"
"I've been through tighter squeezes," Honey replied. She reached out and touched the nearest opening, then quickly withdrew her hoof and examined it. "Pointier ones, too." She stepped back and prepared to go in, but paused and looked over herself. "...I'm gonna have to lose this, though," she said, slipping a hoof under her sweater. "No way I'll make it with this fire hazard on my back." She pulled it off and tossed it aside. As the sweater cleared Honey's flanks, Twilight gasped.
Honey Do's cutie mark, previously covered by the hefty garment, was a compass rose. With that revealed, and her body no longer artificially puffed up by the woolen bulk, a spark of recognition fired in Twilight's mind. "You're—!" she began, but the pegasus raised a hoof for silence.
"Talk later," she said, charging forward and diving through the opening.
~#~#~#~
The pegasus rolled into the subway car, already feeling the intense heat as she stood. It wasn't much more recognizable on the inside than it had been from the outside. It still looked as if it had been pinched in half, and the floor clearly corkscrewed. The doors were completely trashed. Her entrance had been the remnant of one door, broken slightly ajar, but the opposite door was twisted shut, permanently.
Glancing up, she spotted a hatch in the ceiling. She dropped near the ground and drew in a breath of relatively clean air to hold against the smoke, then flew up and gave the hatch a good turn. It slid aside, revealing that it was Honey Do's lucky day—another hatch! This too she pulled aside, then flew straight up through it.
She was now in an upside-down subway car, and the fire was closer to her than it had previously been. But there, within sight, was an open door, leading to her destination!
A creaking above her drew her attention, and as she looked at the floor she realized that in a moment she was going to be hit with molten slag. She grabbed a chunk of wood that had previously been part of a bench and used it to shield herself...
~#~#~#~
The rest watched in silence, only hearing the clangs of hooves on metal. Twilight held her breath as an especially loud sizzling sound came from inside the car.
Slowly, that sound faded. The five strained to listen, anxious for any hint of their friend's safety. They heard only the crackling and popping of a slowly burning fire. Twilight bit her lip nervously and turned to the others. She wanted to say something, anything, but words wouldn't come.
As she struggled to organize her thoughts, there was a clicking sound from below the train. A great groaning and whining issued from the mass of metal, and with a shower of sparks, it began to move. The wreckage was pulled away down the track, revealing Honey Do watching from the other side. The five practically flew across the track to meet her.
"You made it!"
"I didn't think you'd get out of there alive!"
"..."
"Honey, are you really...?"
The tan pegasus nodded. "Yeah. They call me Daring Do," she said, managing to not show any major change in her expression as she did.
"So..." Twilight ventured, "why hide it? Covering up your cutie mark... calling yourself Honey..."
"Obviously," Trixie interrupted, placing her forehooves on Honey Do's shoulders, "it's because she wants to escape the terrible burden of her fame! Trixie sympathizes, really..."
"Uh... no," said Honey. "It's actually kinda nice being famous. But have you read those books? Sure, the artifacts they talk about are real, but beyond that, they have no basis in reality! I'm not some brash loudmouth hero like how the books portray me... but even my old friends started to think I'm like the character after they read the books. So, I just don't tell ponies, and it's all good. Besides, it's not like I lie to ponies. Honey's my real name, even if Daring Do is really catchy."
There was a second as they absorbed this, Honey being the first to turn her attention back to the great door in front of them. "Girls, we've still got a mission," she reminded them. "Whenever you're ready."
With a general chorus of "Ready," they all proceeded toward the massive door.
Twilight hung back a bit, nudging the pegasus as the other four opened the door. "Hey," she said, "really, thanks for letting us know, Honey."
Honey shook her head. "It wouldn't be right to put my own little secrets ahead of everyone else. The truth will set you free, right? And anyway, you guys... you can call me Daring."
~#~#~#~
The door led into a room lined with couches; Octavia set her cello down on one to rest for a moment. The room wasn't as large as Twilight was expecting, an impression strengthened by the fact that the far wall was rounded, extending back into the room. There was a ticket booth in the center of that wall, with several doors on either side. A light flickered within the booth, threatening to go out.
"This is the planetarium. The doors are automatic," Daring said. "Need a ticket to get in this way."
Twilight approached the booth, peering around for a way in. A sudden motion inside startled her and she jumped back a bit as a face sprang up on the other side of the glass.
"...Trixie?" Twilight asked. "When did you...?"
"Trixie used to hang out here over the summer when she was in school," Trixie explained. "Getting in and out of places unseen was one way Trixie amused herself." She flipped her mane with a hoof as she leaned against a machine with a clock on it, which showed that the next ill-fated show was supposed to be in two hours.
Twilight opted not to ask what the other ways were. "So you can let us in, right?"
"Hm," said Trixie, reviewing a chart. "It would seem admission has gone up since Trixie was last here. Ten bits for a ticket? Truly outrageous."
"Trixie..."
"Trixie supposes she will have to charge you the sixty bits, though. Policy is policy! Wouldn't want Trixie to get fired from her new job, would you?"
"Trixie! Just give us the tickets already!"
Trixie snickered as she pressed a button and several tickets were dispensed from a slot. "Relax. Trixie has you covered," she said, taking one for herself and distributing the rest. "Lucky us, these are the last of them."
With a puff of smoke, Trixie disappeared from the booth, rejoining the group in much the same fashion. Tickets ready, they approached the doors.
Out of their direct line of sight, the clock sparked, flickered, and went dark, wisps of shadow beginning to leak from it.
The doors had slots on them, too, and it was into these that the tickets were inserted, granting each pony entry. Twilight struggled to see in the dim light filtering into the planetarium. Scanning the far end of the room, she spotted what might have been the doors leading into the museum proper, and started forward, accompanied by the others.
Behind them, the doors swung shut. The sudden pitch-blackness of the dome elicited screams and shouts of confusion from the group.
"Okay, okay! Nobody panic!" Twilight said a little belatedly. "I can use a quick light spell, we should be fine!"
The glowing of her horn quickly illuminated the dome. Just as quickly, the ponies dropped to the ground, screaming, covering their heads with their hooves. Above them, indistinct phantasmal shapes could be seen swirling about, now and then resolving themselves into extremely large bats, with dark reddish fur covering their bodies, and sharp, exaggerated faces reminiscent of foxes.
Blossomforth swatted at the air above her head blindly. Octavia shielded herself with her cello. Orange Sherbet tried to take cover under a seat. Daring simply tensed up and watched, clutching at the sides of her head as if to hold on to her missing pith helmet. Trixie was standing.
Trixie was standing? "Trixie, what are you doing?" Twilight shouted.
Shadowy claws slashed at the blue unicorn, leaving deep gashes. She seemed wholly unperturbed, though, until Twilight jumped to her feet to pull her back, and got raked across the eye by a creature. "Augh!" Twilight stumbled back, wincing.
By way of response, Trixie laughed. It was a long, loud, confident sound, which startled the others almost as much as the creatures had. A moment later, Trixie conjured an eyepatch over Twilight's eye, and gestured to the creatures. "We have an audience! Perfect! Welcome to the Greatest Show in Equestria!" she announced, launching a single firework from her horn.
With angry screeches, they began to swirl around her, but Trixie reached up with a hoof and grabbed one, pulling it to her side. "Tell Trixie, what's your name? Where do you come from?"
The creature hissed.
"Oh, that's a nice place. Sunny weather. Trixie likes you, have a cigar." She shoved a cigar in the creature's mouth and released it, leaving it looking confused as it hovered over her. A few moments later, the cigar exploded in its face, leaving a stunned-looking flying fox covered in soot and ash.
Daring Do chuckled.
"How about... you?" From under Trixie's cape, a cane extended, grabbing and reeling in another creature, still cloaked in shadow. "You know, hold that thought. I really don't think that color works for you." Her horn sparked, and suddenly the shadow had become an aura of neon pink.
There was a general chorus of uncertain giggles from the mares still on the floor.
Poof! Another creature was now wearing a funny hat.
Zap! Now that one over there looked like it had been dunked in a swamp.
Ping! Whiff! Zoop! Three of them now found themselves inexplicably seated around a floating table, with teacups in front of them.
Sherbet stifled a laugh in order to remark, "I never would have guessed bats could be so... erudite."
"Oh, certainly," Trixie replied. "They're positively dripping with class."
As she said this, three teapots appeared above the bats and tilted, pouring out their contents onto the hapless beasts.
"They have to be, of course," she continued. "They could never have such a smashing time otherwise." The teapots proceeded to break themselves over the creatures' heads.
The mares now erupted into peals of laughter, even Twilight, once she had recovered from the shock. The beasts reeled in confusion, bumping into each other as they scrambled to regroup, almost as frightened by the laughing ponies as the ponies themselves had been moments before. One by one, they began to find cracks in the dome and slip out.
Trixie turned to the others with a grin. "Well, that takes care of that," she said, tossing her mane. "They won't be bothering us again."
Twilight nodded as her giggles subsided, then took a deep breath and looked at Trixie's side. "Uh, Trixie?" she began. "Your wounds, they're... gone..."
"Illusions," Trixie said. "Flying foxes use illusions to hunt. They only strike for real when their victim is too paralyzed with fear to fight back." She smirked. "They're as afraid of you as you aren't of them."
Twilight absorbed that for a moment. Slowly, she lifted a hoof to her face. "Then... my eye..."
"Your eye was all in your head," Trixie confirmed with a laugh.
"Then... why did I need the eyepatch?" Twilight asked.
Waving a hoof, Trixie snickered. "Because it's funny," she explained, as if it were perfectly obvious.
Twilight groaned, removing the eyepatch and discarding it as the others giggled once more.
The doors at the far end of the room swung open, as if beckoning them deeper into the museum.
"Shall we?" Trixie asked.
"Ready!" said the rest.
Twilight considered Trixie for a moment, then, finally, gave her an approving grin and a nod. "Let's go."
~#~#~#~
Outside the planetarium, the lights were dim and flickering, but there was at least enough light to see by without magic.
Twilight entered first, cautiously, Daring Do hovering over her as they made their way forward. Behind them, Trixie was still making little jokes to Auntie Sherbet about her victory over the flying foxes. In the rear, Blossomforth was talking to, or possibly at, Octavia, who nodded politely along with everything the pegasus said. Above them, a mass of darkness creeped along the ceiling, unnoticed.
"I guess we should've known it was dangerous from the start," Blossomforth was saying. "It's not like some big nasty who took down Celestia was going to make it easy on us. Still... we can get through this, right? We've got to. I mean, we WILL. We'll bring the sun back. Right?" Her cheery expression wavered for a moment before reaffirming itself. "Right. We've got nothing to fear. Did you see how Daring Do handled that train wreck? Or how Trixie chased those bats off so easily? If they can do that, nothing can stop us."
All those words sounded hollow to her.
Octavia reached over with a hoof and patted her on the shoulder, offering a gentle smile. Blossomforth chuckled. "Heh, thanks, Octavia. You always know what to say, don't you?"
"Girls," whispered Twilight, as they walked through the Commander Hurricane Memorial exhibit, "do you hear that?"
Everypony went silent. Blossomforth fluttered forward, listening carefully.
Somewhere above them, something was definitely creaking.
Sherbet grimaced. "It sounds like it's about to..."
She was cut off by a horrendous crashing noise, as a column of stone and metal from the ruins of the upper floors crashed down into the room. Daring Do pulled Twilight to the side, while Blossomforth zipped forward to avoid being flattened. Trixie and Auntie Sherbet were close behind, their course weaving about the room as they dodged chunks of death from above. Octavia, further back, hurried to reach the wall, following it around the hazardous zone.
A cloud of dust billowed into the Mammals of Dream Valley exhibit, carrying with it several ponies. After a few seconds of coughing, the dust began to settle, and Twilight brushed herself off. "Is everypony okay?" she asked.
"Fine and dandy," said Daring Do, patting herself down to check.
"A little roughed up, but I'll make it," Sherbet noted.
"Still great and powerful," Trixie said, beaming.
"I think I'm in one piece," Blossomforth confirmed.
"Good," Twilight sighed. "What about you, Octavia?"
Silence.
"Octavia...?"
"She didn't make it?!" Sherbet cried, horrified, turning back to the now sealed-off door. A panicked murmur spread quickly among the group.
"I-I think I saw her running around the cave-in," Daring Do stammered. "She must have reached the Biology of Giant Invertebrates exhibit..."
Twilight nodded, her mind clicking into gear. She stepped toward the wreckage. "Octavia!" she called out. "Can you hear me? I... I can't see a way through... we're going ahead, so try and meet us at the main entrance!"
~#~#~#~
Octavia stood, shook her head to clear it, and then gasped and scrambled back slightly as she found herself staring at a very large circular maw full of very large pointy teeth. A moment passed, and she realized it was a display that had been knocked over, a variety of sandworm. She picked up her fallen cello as she stepped gingerly over it, scanning the room. There was a door, barely visible in the darkness, at the far end.
She spared a glance behind her, confirming that there was no way but forward. Twilight and the rest must have been trapped in another part of the museum; Octavia had been at the back of the group when the cave-in started, so the others would have had more time to escape. With that settled in her mind, she moved forward slowly.
The sound of something clattering to the floor drew her attention, and she whirled to face the source.
~#~#~#~
Twilight eased forward, past various displays of strange-looking animals. Her wary eyes scrolled over a group of puffy, hairy creatures, identified on a placard as "bushwoolies", an extremely docile species of subsapient rodents, and across from them, some lumpy, gray-skinned bipeds called Grundles—"No recent sightings," this placard noted, "thought extinct."
In the dark recesses of the exhibit, she was unable to see an even darker mist seeping into a large stuffed display shrouded in the shadows ahead.
A roar brought the entire group to a halt, and was quickly echoed by a second. A snort followed, and everypony backed away as the creature stepped slowly out from between a pair of overlarge monkey-bird shapes. It sniffed at the air for a moment before noticing them, then turned and padded forward to meet them, its lion and dragon heads licking their lips in anticipation, goat head tossing irritably.
Twilight's jaw unhinged for a moment, but she quickly recomposed herself. "Girls, it looks like we've got a fight on our hooves," she said.
~#~#~#~
Octavia approached the giant centipede cautiously. As she rounded it, several ponies gasped in unison and held up their hooves defensively.
"Please, don't hurt us," said a cream-colored earth stallion. "We got trapped in here after Nightmare Moon wrecked the place. We're just looking for the exit..."
Octavia nodded and reached out to them with a hoof, beckoning them closer. They began to gather around her, and she looked them over to see if any of them were hurt. One mare, a blue pegasus, lay on the ground and nursed a slightly reddened foreleg. Octavia offered a hoof to help her stand.
That was when somepony behind her yelled something she couldn't quite make out. Before she could turn around, she felt a sharp pain in her hindleg.
~#~#~#~
The five mares gathered around, readying themselves as the chimera stalked closer. The dragon head gave an angry snort, a wisp of flame escaping its nostrils. Behind the chimera, something green and scaly rose up—a snake, where the creature's tail should be.
Despite her instinctual fear Twilight's eyes narrowed, giving the creature a glare of determination. The chimera returned the gesture, all eight eyes fixed forward as the group braced themselves for the attack.
"Twilight? Trixie? Can you do something about this?" Sherbet asked.
Daring Do shook her head. "Chimeras are part dragon, and adult dragons are extremely magic-resistant. All we can use is hoofpower, and this thing has us beat four ways there."
"We can't beat it head-on, no," Twilight said. "We'd have to trick it. In fact... I have a plan... but it's too close, we'd need to distract it somehow."
Blossomforth took a deep breath.
"And your plan will work? If it's distracted?" she asked.
"Well, yeah," Twilight replied, "but it's got us where it wants us, so I don't know how we're going to—"
Before Twilight could say any more, a white streak had darted past her, and over the chimera's heads. The beast looked confused for a second, then nearly tripped over itself turning to chase the pony.
~#~#~#~
Octavia glanced behind herself and saw a young pegasus colt, almost the same shade of blue as the mare in front of her, rearing up to strike her again. "Don't touch my mom!" he shouted. The huddled ponies looked shocked at this, but Octavia didn't wait for them to act. With the fastest reflexes she had ever displayed, she turned and grabbed him firmly with her forehooves.
She held him there in a gentle hug. He struggled and squirmed for a minute, so she whispered soft reassurances in his ear. Slowly, he began to calm down. Slowly, Octavia swept him up, set him in front of his mother, and raised her cello. The bow touched the strings again, and she began to play a slow, familiar melody. The foal smiled as she began to sing.
Hush now, quiet now, it's time to lay your sleepy head Hush now, quiet now, it's time to go to bed Drift, drift, off to sleep, leave the exciting day behind you Drift, drift, off to sleep, let the joy of dreamland find you Hush now, quiet now, it's time to lay your sleepy head Hush now, quiet now, it's time to go to bed...
Wavering slightly, the colt yawned. His mother clapped lightly, careful not to disturb him. Octavia smiled at the sound, but she wasn't done. She bowed to the mother, turned to face the rest of the ponies, and played on.
See now, how the world is full of peaceful, quiet bliss See now, how the world has felt sleep's gentle kiss Dream, dream, dream of what the morning's magic light will bring Dream, dream, dream of all of nature's wondrous things Hush now, quiet now, it's time to lay your sleepy head Hush now, quiet now, it's time to go to bed...
Hush now, quiet now, it's time to lay your sleepy head Hush now, quiet now, it's time to go to bed Drift, drift, off to sleep, leave the exciting day behind you Drift, drift, off to sleep, let the joy of dreamland find you Hush now, quiet now, it's time to lay your sleepy head Hush now, quiet now, it's time to go to bed...
~#~#~#~
The lion's jaws snapped shut inches from Blossomforth's heel. Blossomforth rolled out of the way as best she could, and received a smack from the goat's horns that sent her spiraling out-of-control into a nearby display of a pair of monkeys.
"No, not the Gizmonks!" Daring Do cried out. "That's the only pair we have!" Blossomforth stood and shook off the impact, then darted into the air again. The chimera's beady eyes watched her hungrily. Hovering out of its reach, she waved to Twilight.
She was surprised when the dragon head opened its mouth and a stream of fire issued forth. There was barely enough time to dive out of the way and avoid being scorched. The air wasn't safe. Blossomforth was going to have to get closer.
With a deep breath, she zipped directly between the dragon and lion heads. Each turned to try and bite her, but just missed; they roared in pain as their teeth dug into each other. The snake tail twitched, then sprang at Blossomforth. She gave it a kick, and it reeled away momentarily. When it recovered and came at her again, she ducked under it, then around. The desperate snake managed to twist itself into a knot trying to catch the pegasus.
"Any time now, Twilight!" Blossomforth called. The chimera was fast, faster than any pony could hope to be in this tight space. She knew it wouldn't be long before it actually caught her, that only determination and luck could pull her through. Despite that, she remained defiant. She flew out of its reach once more, giving the lion head a quick rap on the way.
Twilight braced herself, mustering all her magic. As the chimera jumped to catch Blossomforth, a diagram depicting the ecosystem of Dream Valley swayed once, twice, then toppled on top of it, twisting itself to trap the creature.
"Now what should we do with it?" Twilight asked, approaching the downed beast.
"It's just an exhibit, a display," Daring Do said. "It was never alive before. Must be one of Nightmare Moon's tricks. Can you reverse the spell?"
Twilight nodded. "The Come-To-Life spell is pretty simple, I should be able to undo it." She focused her magic into the task, and within seconds, the vicious look in the chimera's eyes gave way to the foggy, unknowing stare of simple glass beads.
Blossomforth landed. "Wow, that was easier than I thought it would be," she remarked, poking at the display.
"Blossomforth!" Twilight gave a sigh of relief and hugged the pegasus. "I thought that thing was going to catch you for sure! That was one of the riskiest moves I've ever seen!"
"Well," Blossomforth replied with a shrug, "You said you could do something if it was distracted. I just... believed in you. Now, I think we were going to meet Octavia?"
~#~#~#~
Octavia gently patted the sleeping foal's head. She looked around at the others, and saw that all of them had visibly relaxed. The stallion who had first encountered her stepped forward and placed a hoof on her shoulder. Octavia smiled, then turned and beckoned for them to follow her.
The path took them through the Shimmerwood Forest exhibit. The trees here, all taken from magical groves within the historic forest, were known to love music. Octavia began to hum, and the trees glittered with a beautiful light. The path through was made clear.
The rescuees followed closely, still awed by Octavia's song. None of them spoke until they reached the end of the path. Just beyond the trees, a metal door was visible. Octavia walked slowly to it and pushed it open. On the other side was another door, warped shut, and a flight of stairs. This was the first-floor fire exit. Glancing up, Octavia saw the stairwell was still mostly intact. A valid escape route.
She motioned them forward. "'If we do meet again, we'll smile indeed; if not, 'tis true this parting was well made,'" she said with a bow. "Hurry home. Be safe. I still have something to do here."
"Thank you so much," said the mother pegasus. "I'll repay you somehow, I promise." With that, she disappeared up the stairs, and one by one the rest filed after her, all pausing to give Octavia a grateful nod on their way out.
The last escaped, and Octavia let the door swing shut and returned her attention to the path. She hummed again, a different tune, and a new path lit up.
She walked with a purposeful stride and a quick pace. Her friends would be waiting for her. It would be wrong to make them wait. Therefore, nothing must delay her. Ahead lay the Shamanic Rituals of the Buffalo exhibit, and the idea that Nightmare Moon might have laid a trap briefly occurred to her, but she closed her eyes and pressed on.
She was fortunate. It seemed Nightmare had better things to do than lay traps for troubadors, and as the main entrance came into view, she could see the others waiting. Trixie was waving animatedly, Daring and Sherbet more reservedly; Twilight and Blossomforth just smiled at her.
"You made it... what a relief," Twilight said, putting a hoof to her chest. "What happened in there? Did you run into anything?"
Octavia thought for a moment, then cleared her throat to recount what had just happened.
~#~#~#~
"And just up ahead," Daring Do announced, indicating the same corridor she had led Twilight down earlier in the day, "is the Early Equestrian Relics wing, where we'll find displays on founders, explorers, and Elements of Harmony." She bore a practically giddy expression at the realization that they were so close, shared by the entire group.
That look fled as the lights flickered and a series of faint popping noises echoed through the museum. A second later, all the lights simply died. From up ahead, there was a shrill, metallic screeching, followed shortly by a thunderous crash like an entire kitchen full of pots and pans hitting the floor at once.
"What? What's happening?" Trixie demanded. "What was that?!"
A few rapid breaths were audible from the curator's position before she managed to reply. "That," she explained, "would be the security door."
"Security door?" Twilight repeated, perplexed. "What kind of door makes that noise?"
"The kind that's a massive sheet of metal designed to drop into place when the power goes out," Daring clarified. "There's some sensitive stuff in that wing, and the door's to make sure nothing gets stolen or broken while we're all in the dark."
Twilight sighed. "I see. So... how do you open it?"
"By turning the power back on. We need to get to the maintenance office. Can you give me a light?"
Obligingly, Twilight lit up her horn, bathing the six in violet illumination. With that, Daring Do set off, back toward the entrance, the rest following behind her.
~#~#~#~
We're so close...
Orange Sherbet found, not for the first time since this mess started, that she was unconsciously holding her breath. She may have been panicking just a little internally. Perfectly understandable, since there seemed to be a trap around every corner.
No, better not think about traps. That'll only make it worse. Let the experts handle the traps. Think about the way things were before tonight. The way things should be. The future.
She had been planning to take a vacation with a few friends soon. Someplace warmer than Neigh York, just for a few days. Now, she decided, if they won, she'd ask Twilight and the others to come along; they were certainly more pleasant company than her usual social circles. But that would have to be postponed. Nightmare Moon had interrupted a beautiful celebration with a beautiful banquet, so the first order of business would be to arrange another, grander, to replace what was lost.
She was already envisioning the scene. Upon a mosaic of trays and tables would be an elegant arrangement of orange salads, orange crepes, orange tarts, orange marmalades, orange puddings, and of course her specialty, orange sherbets. She would gather all of Manehattan and they would feast until everypony agreed that the celebration had been perfect, as though this night had never happened.
A click brought her back to reality. Daring Do had opened a door and beckoned them down a narrow, darkened corridor.
Oh yes. Save the world first, then we can plan the feast.
The world above... Sherbet thought of her family, of her husband, her sister, her niece. Apples and Oranges. The rest of the city, cowering from the memory of the dark mare. The rest of the world, wondering why the sun hadn't risen yet, perhaps beginning to really fear the reason now.
She imagined how they would all react, when at last this oppressive night rolled away and the gentle dawn replaced it. Would they cheer? Dance for joy? Fall on their faces and thank Celestia? Or perhaps they'd all just give a sigh of relief and go on with their lives.
Sherbet wouldn't blame them for that.
~#~#~#~
They had stopped moving. Daring opened a panel, peering in with the light from Twilight's horn. Her hoof hovered over something within the panel, then began moving rapidly along the rest of the space. Even from behind, that hoof gave a pretty clear image of the motion of her eyes, scanning, searching, pleading desperately to show her what she wanted to see.
The others could hear a hiss. It was a strange, frightened sound coming from Daring Do herself, as she flipped open another panel, then another. "No... no, not this one too!" she growled. She whirled around suddenly and darted past her friends, snatching a box from a shelf and tearing it open—it was empty. She gave a strangled cry of frustration and slumped over.
There was a general hesitation following that outburst.
"What is it?" Blossomforth asked cautiously, raising a hoof.
"The fuses," muttered the defeated curator. "They're all blown. Every. Last. One."
Sherbet approached the first fusebox and examined it closely.
"So what about the spares?" Trixie asked. "Surely you keep spares around."
"We keep one box in the maintenance office, and it's fresh out. The rest are all in storage."
Sherbet had found the spot, a slot marked 'Early Equestrian Relics'. "Storage where?" she asked, glancing back over her shoulder.
Daring Do simply pointed straight up. It took a moment for the others to register her meaning. Even if they could get out to the second floor and back in again, all they'd find digging through the rubble would be shards of glass and pulverized metal.
Sherbet's hoof slowly rose to her mane as she turned back to the fusebox, fidgeting nervously.
"There have to be more," Blossomforth was saying. "We can search for..."
"Blossom, I know you don't wanna give up," Daring interrupted, "and I don't either, but if there were more, they'd be right here."
A sound of cardboard sliding across a hard surface indicated Daring had kicked the box for emphasis.
Slowly, Sherbet lowered her hoof. It was curled around a small object. Her mane now fell in loose strands around her face.
"Then we'll find some other way in," Blossomforth responded. "I'm sure we can..."
In one quick, smooth motion, Sherbet raised her hoof and slammed her jewel-encrusted golden hairpin into the fuse slot, withdrawing her hoof quickly to avoid a subsequent electrocution.
There was a sizzle and a pop, and flying sparks illuminated the room. Far away, a groaning sound echoed, as if something huge was being lifted by some tremendous force.
In an instant, Daring Do was airborne. "What? How...?" she said, then laughed. "Yes! We're back in business!" As soon as that was out of her mouth, she zipped out of the room. Behind her, Trixie, Octavia, and Blossomforth exchanged a grin, then hurried after her.
Sherbet remained staring at the fusebox, as if still processing what had just happened.
Twilight trotted up to her. "Are you okay, Auntie?" she asked.
Sherbet drew in a sharp breath, turning her head away from the lost jewelry, hesitating for a second before answering. "That hairpin," she explained in a somber tone, "was the first gift my husband ever gave me. It wasn't a wedding gift or an anniversary gift or to celebrate this or that holiday. It was just... a gift. Something amazingly wonderful he gave me because he could. Barely, at that. Back then, he was a grocer. It was six months' pay for him, and then some." She shook her head sadly. "I've not parted with it since then... not until now."
Twilight only nodded her understanding. There was nothing else she could say, nothing anypony could say.
A moment of silence passed between them. Then, Sherbet straightened her posture, brushed her mane out of her face, and turned. "I'll have time to dwell on that later," she said, gently, with some semblance of composure restored. "Let's hurry. After all this, I don't want to miss the conclusion."
As they started out of the room, Twilight offered her a smile. It was small, sad, but sincere and hopeful. Without missing a beat, Auntie returned it in kind.
Once more they were in a lit area, perhaps a bit brighter than the last. There was no telling how long it would remain lit, though, and that thought spurred them on a little faster, down a few different corridors, until they were spilling into the room Daring had shown Twilight earlier that day.
"Alright, so where are they?" Twilight asked, looking around for the array of gems the books had shown. Nothing of the sort was visible, to her dismay. They must have been deeper in the museum.
"Right here," Daring Do declared, picking up a rock and tossing it to Twilight.
Twilight caught it with a bemused expression. "A rock?" she questioned, staring straight at it. "The Elements of Harmony are a rock?!"
Daring shrugged. "Based on every record we could find, yeah, we concluded that these are definitely the Elements of Harmony. Take a closer look." She picked up the rest of the rocks and set them down in front of Twilight. Examining them, Twilight realized three things she had completely overlooked.
First, these weren't just lumps of rock, they were almost completely spherical, and perfectly smooth to the touch.
Second, the only interruption to their uncannily precise shape was an impression in each, perfectly in the shape of the gems shown in the books.
Third, there were five of them.
"Five?" Sherbet observed, raising an eyebrow. "I thought you said there were six."
"So where's the last one?" Blossomforth asked, looking to Daring.
Twilight shook her head. "The book said: When the five are present, a spark will cause the sixth Element to be revealed," she stated simply.
"...Trixie doesn't understand," said Trixie.
"Neither do I, but I think I've got an idea. Stand back, I don't know what will happen."
With a few gentle taps, Octavia drew the attention of the group. "'Remember what peace there may be in silence.' Let Twilight concentrate," she said, ushering the other four back into the corridor.
Twilight gave a grateful nod and began focusing her magic through the stones. Though they rustled and rolled under the exerted force, there wasn't much effect.
Suddenly, just as the other five had disappeared from sight, a glittering darkness began to rise from the floor around the Elements. It flickered, then began to swirl, sweeping them up. Twilight let out a cry of alarm.
The rest turned around and came charging back, just in time to see Twilight lower her head and jump into the dark vortex. The vortex then seemed to collapse into itself like a dying star. For a moment, everything was sucked toward it, and then it was gone, leaving behind a large orb of darkness, like a hole in nothing. Within, distant points of light twinkled.
"Oh Celestia," Octavia gasped, "it's full of stars!"
~#~#~#~
Twilight opened her eyes and stood up, rubbing her head. "Where am I...?" she asked nopony in particular. She was outside, she could see that. A cold wind whipped through her mane and she crouched down against it as best she could, though it was little use on the cold stone surface below her.
Glancing around, she saw that this surface came to an abrupt end not far behind her. To her left was a wall, to her right was nothing. She turned to stare down at the ground below, but before she could look, her attention was drawn to the sound of hoofbeats close by.
"I didn't want to do that," Nightmare Moon growled, "but there was nowhere else to go."
"What have you done?" Twilight snapped as she glowered at the once-Princess. "Where are we?"
"Curious, are you?" Nightmare Moon smirked. "I'm afraid that's none of your business. Unless you would like me to teach you. Forget your frivolous quest, and I will be your mentor just like Celestia was."
Twilight dropped into her best fighting stance. Nightmare Moon merely laughed at this, and stomped with one hoof, causing the surface beneath Twilight to tremble, unbalancing her. "There's no point in fighting," she said calmly. "Your effort to restore the sun is a lost cause. I'll dispose of you, and when your allies arrive, I'll simply leave them trapped here forever with the Elements they sought so desperately." Slowly, the look on her face took on a new, sinister sort of mirth. "Last chance. Join me and I'll spare them, too. What do you say?"
Twilight trembled as she picked herself up. "I say..." She snorted. "Never. I won't give up, not until I've put a stop to your schemes once and for all!"
"So be it," the dark mare declared, stepping forward. Behind her, Twilight glimpsed the Elements, so close, almost within reach.
In the next instant, Twilight realized she was being lifted into the air, seized in a deep blue magical aura.
~#~#~#~
Blossomforth reached out with a hoof to touch the orb, cautiously. The leg passed easily into it, as though there was nothing there. There was a slight but noticeable chill to it, an eerily natural sensation.
"I guess we're going in," she said, stepping back and bracing herself. With a murmur of agreement, the rest stood at her side, Octavia pausing to lay her cello against a display. As one, they lowered their heads and charged straight for the sphere.
Their progress was not so much as hindered, and in less than a second they had reached the other end, or rather, they should have. Passing through the near side of the sphere, however, proved to be very disorienting, and all five stumbled.
"It can't be," Sherbet gasped.
They had found themselves in the streets of Manehattan, sky still as dark as when they left. The twinkling of stars now seemed to be reflected by the streets beneath them. All around them, buildings appeared to have been broken and ruined. Impossibly, dead trees, seeming centuries old, rose through the cracks and holes in the buildings.
"What is this?" Auntie asked, gaping in horror.
Daring shook her head. "Nothing," she said. "It's an illusion, a trick... it can't be real."
Trixie tapped at the ground with a hoof. "It feels real," she announced. "But then, that's to be expected, isn't it?"
Blossomforth nodded. "Yeah. Well, whatever is happening, we've got bigger problems. Spread out, girls, the search is on."
~#~#~#~
Twilight struggled against the magical hold, then squeezed her eyes shut as she began casting a spell of her own. Nightmare Moon loosened her grip, only slightly, enough for Twilight to know she was bracing for an attack, but Twilight had something else in mind. She placed a thin magical aura under Nightmare's, allowing her to slip free and land on her hooves, ready to fight back.
"Oh my, that was clever of you," Nightmare commented. "I see I'm going to have to be more direct. And why not? Celestia's playthings are mine now, so it's time to play." She stepped slowly forward, and a series of magical orbs began to take form above her as she did. Twilight unconsciously backed away, until her hoof hit the edge. She tensed up, watching as the enormous mare slowly bore down on her.
Then, halfway across the space between them, Nightmare Moon stopped. She raised her wings as high above her as they would stretch, then swept them down again in a great flourish. As she did so, the orbs streaked toward Twilight, one by one, elongating into an arrow shape as they moved.
Twilight leapt over the first arrow, and the second aimed itself at her, passing over her as gravity pulled her out of its path. She hit the ground and rolled to the wall, getting out of the way of the third and fourth.
As they passed, she sprang to her feet, only to see the fifth arrow bearing down on her. She cringed, trying to recall a shield spell, an absorption spell, or something, anything to save her from the impending strike.
There was a flash of light, and Nightmare Moon drew back in shock as the arrow passed through nothing at all. Behind her, a confused Twilight Sparkle had appeared beside the Elements. The dark mare turned to see her shake off her disorientation and begin casting a spell on the stones.
At once, Nightmare took shadow form again and flowed back to the Elements, reforming over them. Twilight ceased casting to gaze up at her, arcs of electricity bouncing from sphere to sphere. Without warning, a spark leapt to the distracted Twilight, blasting her with the force of her own magic. The unicorn was sent flying backwards, skidding across the surface below her until she felt herself leave the edge. Desperately, she reached out with her hooves and clung to it, barely pulling herself back up.
"No, no!" Nightmare Moon commanded as the electricity continued to flow. Twilight grinned in triumph.
That grin faded a second later as the sparks flickered pathetically out.
"But... where's the sixth Element?!" she protested.
Cackling, Nightmare reared back up onto her hooves and stamped amid the Elements. Twilight watched in horror, clinging to the ledge, as the five stones shattered, sending a cascade of shards tumbling to the street below.
"You little foal!" gloated the shadowy mare. "Thinking you could defeat me! Now you will never see your princess, or your sun! The night will last forever!"
Twilight couldn't respond. She couldn't even speak. Those stones were the last hope for ponykind, and now they were gone. Nightmare Moon was right. No matter what she did now, it was over.
Before she could bow her head in defeat, however, a sound behind her drew her attention.
~#~#~#~
"She's not over here!" called Daring Do, sweeping over a building complex, eyes scanning the streets.
Blossomforth ascended along a skyscraper, peering in every window as she passed. "Not here, either!"
A blast of magic cleared away a plant that was blocking the roof access of a university building. "Trixie has nothing to report," Trixie reported, stepping out onto the roof.
"Nor I," added Sherbet, standing atop the library.
Octavia shook her head in frustration at her fruitless trek through the streets. Cutting through Central Park, she arrived at a great statue of Beethooven, and without a thought, hopped up onto it, searching the skyline. She drew in a deep breath, as much as her lungs could hold, and bellowed at the top of her voice...
~#~#~#~
"Twilight! Where are you?"
Twilight's head turned automatically, seeking the source of the voice. She saw them all, frantically looking for her. For an instant, she wanted to call out to them to turn back, to give up, to save themselves, though of course they never would. If there was any hope of that, they wouldn't have come this far, wouldn't have stood by her side through the dangers they had already faced together. As soon as she had thought of that, she gasped, her eyes widening as she finally understood what it had all meant.
In spite of the victorious alicorn in front of her, Twilight grinned. "You just lost," she stated.
The dark one froze in place, fixing Twilight with a look of absolute uncertainty regarding whether it should be amused or enraged. "Oh?" she asked, strutting forward. "And tell me, how do you propose to make good on that outrageous claim? The Elements are gone, and you're barely holding on. I've beaten Celestia in every way."
"The Elements aren't gone," Twilight explained simply, emulating a shrug as well as she could in her position.
"What do you mean?" Nightmare Moon hissed, tendrils of the darkness that was her mane lashing out, stopping just short of Twilight. "I've destroyed them. You don't know how to repair them. Nopony alive does."
Twilight shook her head, and then raised her voice as loud as she could. "You think you can destroy the Elements of Harmony just like that? Well, you're wrong, because the spirits of the Elements of Harmony are right here!" she yelled.
~#~#~#~
Her voice carried through the still air to the searching ears, and the heads below all turned to her location.
"Is that her?"
"She's on top of the Equine's Gait Building!"
"Hold on, Twilight!"
~#~#~#~
In the next second, five beacons of colored light shot up through the city. Nightmare Moon's pupils shrank as she stepped back, away from the display. "What?!"
Twilight only smirked and nodded. "Honey Do, who gave up her biggest secret to help her friends, represents the spirit of... Honesty!" she declared. From the street, a stream of stone shards swirled up to surround the pegasus, who gazed in awe as she hovered amid them.
"I told you," she called back, "you can call me Daring!"
"Trixie," Twilight continued, "who used comedy and humor to illuminate the shadow of terror, represents the spirit of... Laughter!" On cue, a second stream flowed to the proud-looking blue unicorn, who flipped her mane in response.
"If you think that was funny, you should be there for one of Trixie's tours," she remarked.
"Blossomforth, who risked everything because she had faith in me, represents the spirit of... Loyalty!" Twilight stated confidently. The third stream reached Blossomforth, and she smiled up at the unicorn.
"And you pulled it off," Blossomforth answered. "I would do it again in a heartbeat."
Twilight had heaved her torso onto the roof by now, and gestured with a hoof. "Octavia, who helped and calmed the helpless and scared, represents the spirit of... Kindness!" The fourth stream collected around Octavia, who took a simple bow.
"And Auntie, who gave up something irreplaceable to give us all some hope, represents the spirit of... Generosity!" Twilight finished, beaming as the fifth stream quickly swept to Orange Sherbet.
"I... could never give less than my all," said the earth pony humbly, lowering her head with a smile.
Twilight pointed a hoof at Nightmare Moon. "The spirits of these five ponies got us through every challenge you threw at us. And that's why you lost!"
Nightmare Moon gaped. "No!" she cried. "It can't be! I... I..." Her look of horror quickly melted away, though, and she laughed loudly again. "I still won! You don't have the sixth Element! Your spark didn't work!"
Before Twilight had a chance to respond, Nightmare rushed forward and swatted her with a forehoof. She was knocked clear of the roof, with nothing left to grab onto, only able to hear the cackling of the mare above her as she fell.
As the others gaped in horror, Daring Do and Blossomforth both darted toward Twilight, but they knew it was no use. They were too far away to have any hope of catching the unicorn.
Suddenly, a sixth beacon erupted from Twilight's position. The falling mare slowed to a stop a few stories above street level, and then her direction began to reverse. The earthbound ponies also found themselves lifted into the air, and the pegasi felt a pleasant stillness overtake them as all six were drawn toward the same point in the sky.
"Would you please let me finish? Now, as I was saying, it did work. A different kind of spark," Twilight patiently explained to the stunned Nightmare, then glanced back at the group. "I felt it when I realized how happy I was to hear you, to see you, and how much I cared about you. The spark ignited inside me when I realized you all are my friends." Now she returned her attention to the mare below them. "You see, Nightmare Moon, when those elements are ignited by the... well, the spark, that resides in the heart of us all, it creates the sixth element. And that element is... Magic!"
As if they had been waiting for those words, the shards spiraled faster around each of the ponies, each stone producing a flash of light as they became five golden necklaces. A sixth stream streaked into the air to circle Twilight's head, where it took the shape of a headdress.
The individual beacons of light that surrounded the ponies now came together and focused themselves into what could only be called a living rainbow. It rose from the six, then came crashing down on Nightmare Moon, who was still too shocked to so much as speak until she realized it was far too late. It swiftly wrapped around her, eliciting one last booming "Nooo!" from the mare.
The sound echoed off into the distance. Slowly, the glow of the Elements faded, the last of the rainbow running its course and streaking off into the sky as the ponies gently alit on the rooftop. For a moment, everything was calm and silent.
Lying amid her scattered trappings was Nightmare Moon, but she had changed considerably. She was now only about a head taller than Twilight herself, and her coat had faded from black to a softer blue. Her mane and tail were now composed of normal hair, instead of wisps of living night. Slowly, she opened her eyes.
"What...?" She pushed herself to her hooves, then looked down at herself in awe. Seeing the change that had come over her, her head whipped up to the ponies before her. "You!" she hissed, moving haltingly forward, wrath etched into her face, but as she took another step, and then another, that look of hatred began to dissolve. First she looked puzzled, then, impossibly, calm. "I'm... not angry anymore," she observed. "That hasn't happened for... longer than I can remember..."
Twilight nodded, moving forward to meet her. "That's what harmony means," she said, smiling. "It's peace. You don't need to be angry, you see?"
Nightmare didn't answer right away. Instead, she bowed her head for a moment, then sank to her knees, shuddering. Twilight reached out to her, but stopped when she felt the world around her shake.
Everypony braced themselves, except for Nightmare, who shot to her hooves, looking around wildly. "Oh no," she gasped. "We... we need to go, now!"
"Now? What's happening?!" Twilight asked, barely audible over the roar.
"This pocket dimension was sustained by the power of Nightmare Moon," the alicorn explained. "Now that that power is gone, it will collapse. If we don't leave now, we'll all be trapped in the space between spaces—forever!"
All six of the ponies listening gasped. Twilight stood and whirled to face the rest. "Blossomforth, Daring, you two take Auntie and Octavia and go," she said quickly. "Trixie and I will figure out a way to—"
Twilight found that thought cut off as a hoof grabbed her around the waist. Nightmare pulled her close to her body, and with her other forehoof, did the same to Trixie. "I will see to your safety," she said, immediately before plunging from the roof, spreading her wings halfway down to take flight.
Daring Do grabbed Octavia, and Blossomforth snatched Orange Sherbet. They took off, diving to fly as quickly as their burdens would allow. In moments, they had passed the much more weighed-down alicorn. A falling skyscraper narrowly missed them, and Nightmare barely had time to dodge backward.
"I can't make it!" she cried, straining to get clear of another collapsing building. "With both of you, I don't have the speed to avoid them all!"
Twilight squinted at the boundary, a spot where the city was cut off by a barrier with the appearance of the night sky. She followed the line up, up...
"I've got it!" Twilight exclaimed, pointing. "You won't have to dodge... if you fly up!"
Nightmare seemed caught entirely off guard by this idea. She nodded. "Alright... it's our best bet," she said, angling herself straight up and flapping her wings frantically to pick up speed.
They climbed higher in a desperate bid to outrun the collapse. Glancing back down, Twilight could see that the street was being overtaken by an inky, starless blackness. She bit her lip and looked up instead. Every moment they drew closer to where she assumed the boundary was, but the blackness was approaching from below even faster, and Nightmare's breathing had become heavy and ragged. Twilight squeezed her eyes shut and let out a scream of terror; beside her, Trixie was doing much the same.
Then, the rumbling stopped. Twilight opened her eyes, and was greeted by the light of the museum. The alicorn carrying her arced slowly over the heads of the ponies who had arrived before them, and they landed near the corridor with a soft thud. A second later, the orb of darkness folded in on itself with a disastrous crashing sound and disappeared.
As Nightmare released the unicorns and staggered to the wall, leaning against it in exhaustion, the ponies checked themselves over, making sure they were in one piece, then pausing to admire each other's new necklaces. Trixie adjusted her hat and cape, then adopted a casual posture as though nothing at all had happened. Octavia reclaimed her cello, seeming comforted by the feel of it in her hooves.
Orange Sherbet hesitated for a second, then reached up to feel her mane. It was done up exactly as it had been before they entered the museum. Her eyes went wide, and a silent plea crossed her mouth as she continued to feel until her hoof hit something. She didn't need to see it to know what it was, and she sank to the ground, whispering something to herself and smiling.
Outside, the faint red-orange tinge of sunrise was visible through a window. Slowly this fact dawned on Daring. "My museum!" she shouted, racing to the window and throwing it open. She leaned out, looking around the city with awe, feeling the mild breeze of the summer morning.
"Indeed," said a voice behind her, "that is the power of the Elements of Harmony."
Slowly, all six turned to the door. There, almost in silhouette against the brighter light of the corridor, was a great white alicorn, of regal bearing, wearing a golden crown and a proud smile.
"Princess Celestia!" Twilight rushed to her mentor, pressing herself to the larger mare's chest.
"Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student," Celestia greeted her, nuzzling her tenderly. "I knew you could do it."
"But," Twilight protested, looking at her, "you told me it was an old pony tale!"
"I told you you needed to make some friends, nothing more," Celestia replied with a serene smile. "I saw the signs of Nightmare Moon's return and I knew it was you who had the magic inside to defeat her, but you could not unleash it until you let true friendship into your heart. Speaking of which..." Her gaze slowly shifted across the group, to rest on the seventh. "Princess Luna!"
The alicorn in the corner flinched and slowly turned around. Celestia approached her, regal bearing seeming to soften slightly as she did.
"It has been a thousand years since I have seen you like this. Time to put our differences behind us."
Nightmare, or Luna, seemed to cower a bit, but stopped as she felt Celestia's hoof on her shoulder. "After... everything... you would really be so quick to forgive...?"
Celestia nodded gently. "I forgave you long ago. And tonight you've proven I was correct to do so. I saw you help them escape, Luna. You showed the true nobility and compassion of the sister I've always known. Please, return to my side, so we can rule together as we were always meant to."
"I..." Luna looked away for a moment, before abruptly rushing closer and pressing her face into Celestia's coat. "I'm so sorry!" she cried out.
Celestia didn't say anything. She held her little sister close, comfortingly, as if to assure her that the past thousand years were only some bad dream. A happy silence descended over them.
That silence was broken a few seconds later by the sound of Trixie clearing her throat.
Twilight paced about the library anxiously, waiting for any news. It was as if a clock was ticking in the back of her mind–almost like the threat of Nightmare Moon looming all over again.
Trixie had insisted she be allowed to "handle things". At her urging, they had all gone their separate ways. For Twilight, that had meant returning to the library, to pack her things and reflect on the nightmarish ordeal behind them.
"Um, Twilight?" Spike interrupted. "You okay? You've been out of it all morning."
Twilight turned to face Spike. "Oh, sorry," she said. "I guess I've just had my mind on something..."
"Are you sure you're ready?" he asked.
"...no, I'm not," Twilight responded morosely. "But it's going to happen, so I'd better get ready. It's not like it's the end of the world or anything."
There was a knock on the door of the makeshift bedroom, and Twilight shifted her attention to it. "Come in," she called.
Blossomforth poked her head inside, grinning ear-to-ear. "Hey, Twilight!" she said with a remarkable lilt. "Everypony's heading for Central Park, you better hurry—" Her face fell slightly as she saw the look on Twilight's. "I mean, you know... it'll be fun?" she offered.
Twilight bowed her head. "Thanks, Blossomforth. I'll be right there." Slowly, Blossomforth nodded and stepped out into the entrance, waiting for Twilight to join her. Together, with Spike perched on Twilight's back, they trotted down the stairs and toward the park.
~#~#~#~
Trixie was waiting for them at the entrance to Central Park with a grin that could be seen from a mile away, a small crowd of eager ponies gathered before her. Nearer the front, many of the attendees had even more eager colts or fillies atop their heads. Twilight carefully made her way toward the showpony.
"Good of you to join us," Trixie announced. "Trixie has finished all the preparations, as only Trixie could have done!"
"What are you talking about...?" Twilight began, only to be interrupted by the rumbling of a motor.
A few motorized platforms rolled toward her, towering and brilliantly decorated. "Once Mayor Tux approved my plan, getting everything together was foal's play," Trixie commented smugly. "And now, may I present to you, Princess Celestia... and Princess Luna!"
The alicorns alit suddenly on the lead platform, upon which two thrones were situated. They waved, grinning, as the crowd cheered.
"We're on the second float," Trixie added.
After a second, the thought ticked into Twilight's mind. "What? You mean me? I don't need any parades, I just—"
"You just saved the world," Trixie said. "Today is as much about celebrating you as the Princesses."
"She's right, you know," said a voice beside Twilight. She turned her head to see Daring Do step out of the crowd. "You're too modest. A little exposure will be good for you."
Orange Sherbet and Octavia moved to stand beside Daring. Twilight looked around at the five. They were all nodding encouragingly. Octavia gave a small bow, gesturing with a smile to Twilight.
There was a long pause, and then Twilight smiled as well. "Thank you all," she said quietly. "For being here."
With that she turned and climbed onto the second float. Blossomforth giggled happily before fluttering after her. Daring Do offered a hoof to help the earth ponies up, before settling into place herself. Once the rest were all in position, Trixie gave her grandest stage bow to the assembled ponies, cast a smokescreen, and leapt up as well.
"And with that, we commence!" Trixie declared. The floats began moving, rolling out of the park and down the street as the lively music commenced.
~#~#~#~
They chatted happily as they passed cheering crowds along the road. Every so often, one of them caught Twilight looking uneasy, and asked what was wrong. In response, she would shake herself out of it and smile again.
The procession passed through Equines Square, accompanied by deafening cheers. Confetti streamed down from above as throngs of delighted ponies gathered to watch. Tiny fireworks burst around the floats, igniting the paper to burn in a rainbow of brilliant hues for a fraction of a second before it extinguished itself and blew away. All of Manehattan had turned out to see this.
Ahead on the first float, Celestia had moved her seat behind Luna's. The smaller princess looked stunned by the reactions of the ponies, and reassured by her sister's gentle hoof on her shoulder. As Luna raised a hoof to wave meekly to the crowd, a bouquet fell directly into it. She looked at it for a moment, then up into the crowd to find the thrower, a young colt bouncing excitedly as he cheered at the top of his voice. She smiled and blew a kiss to the colt, who cheered even harder, his parents now having a little difficulty keeping him from leaping straight onto the float.
The six behind them fell silent for a moment, their attention drawn to the simple gesture. "Well, there's another Princess now," Twilight observed. "I guess that's something I'm gonna have to adjust for."
"Who cares if there's another Princess?" Spike replied with a shrug. "Two, three, as long as they're good at what they do—and they are—then I say the more the merrier."
"That's all well and good," Trixie said flatly, "but four is right out."
~#~#~#~
"So," said Daring, idly stirring her milkshake, "now that we've done... all this, what's next? You know... now that we're heroes, and everything?"
The cafe was quiet, the late morning sun providing a soft light. The other patrons seemed to keep their distance, looking upon the princess at the head of the table with reverent awe.
"Well," Sherbet mused, "I had been thinking of a feast—"
Trixie cleared her throat, prompting Sherbet to glare at her. "I, the Great and Powerful Trixie, will soon embark on a cross-Equestria tour, displaying the powers that only the Element of Magic could harness!"
The rest of the party stared at her for a moment before Daring jabbed a hoof in her direction. "You know, this probably qualifies as pointing out the obvious, but your Element is Laughter. I hope you're not planning to say otherwise..." She gave Trixie a warning look.
Trixie flushed slightly. "Uh, slip of the tongue, I meant..." She glanced around the table. "Oh, yes, you'll all come with me, of course! It'll be the greatest show in Equestria!"
Daring's expression softened slightly and she nodded. "Well, okay, I guess we could do that sometime. Blossom?" Her eyes shifted to the other pegasus. "How about you?"
"Oh, I don't know," Blossomforth said, "I'm a simple mare, with simple dreams. I don't need to do anything big just because of something like this. I'll be content with just, oh, a park named after me..."
Octavia rolled her eyes. "'Thy modesty's a candle to thy merit,'" she said. "I intend to do the same thing I have always done, play my cello. Though perhaps now I will have a bigger audience."
"I certainly hope so," Sherbet added. "Your music has always been inspirational. The more ponies hear it, the better."
Octavia blushed, then looked to Twilight. "And what are you going to—?"
Twilight looked away, and Octavia silenced herself. The earth pony set a hoof on Twilight's shoulder, her look inquiring where she couldn't speak.
"...I'm going to go back to Canterlot," Twilight said, a slight chill in her voice. "I was only here for the Celebration. Now that it's over..." She trailed off.
Celestia, concerned by the shift in her pupil's demeanor, leaned closer. "Is something bothering you, my faithful student?" she asked.
"...Princess," Twilight replied, "before you sent me here, I never cared about friends at all. Now I finally know what I was missing, and I have to just... give it up..." As she spoke, she didn't look at her mentor. Rather, her eyes fell on each of her friends in turn. Auntie was carefully attempting to mute her troubled expression; Daring looked almost scared; Octavia still gave Twilight that gently concerned look; Blossomforth had actually teared up slightly. Trixie looked hurt, until Twilight looked directly at her, when she promptly turned her head and tried to pretend it was no big deal.
There was a moment of silence now. Celestia surveyed the group. She lowered her head in thought for a moment, then chuckled quietly.
